


Reading

by LaureLey



Series: Esteban/Rain [3]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/M, Modern Era, Present Tense, Snippets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-12
Updated: 2019-02-12
Packaged: 2019-10-27 03:04:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17758553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaureLey/pseuds/LaureLey
Summary: It’s a romance novel– of course it would be– but Esteban likes sharing things with her, and knowing things Rain knows, and so he likes to read it regardless.





	Reading

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nobody_Alchemist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nobody_Alchemist/gifts).



His hand is on her thigh, tapping out the song that bumbles through his head on repeat, sight lost somewhere as he thinks things through. He’d been playing games before, his little lover tucked against his chest as she attempted to read a book, but his game had distracted her too much at first, and he’d given it up for her peace of mind. Instead, her darkly tanned lover had turned his attentions elsewhere, and though she’d questioned it at first, he’d just brushed her back to her book while he relaxed.

But even relaxed, Esteban is a creature of movement, and so the tapping had begun, just on the edge of her thigh. She can feel the ever light movement of his muscles against her waist, her skin, his distracted shifts occurring again and again, but this only provides her with comfort as she goes on, cuddling closer to the source of warmth at her back. She only becomes aware that he is reading with her when his bear-like palm interrupts the page that was about to flip.

“Wouldn’t it be better to start at the beginning?” she offers lightly, her voice a murmur in the silent apartment– so much that she can still hear the light clicks of the clock moving forth at each second. She can feel him rumble out a chuckle, warm and tranquil as he brushes his arms around her waist, mostly left bare for his sake.

“Where’d be the fun in that?” her lover demands, finger still holding the page back so that she can’t go forth. His thumb brushes against her pale hand, mocha against milk, and Esteban brushes a kiss to the back of her head, settling back again. He’s still tapping, but the rhythm seems broken now, his concentration elsewhere.

She smiles lightly as he goes on, indulging him as she waits for him to finish. It’s a romance novel– of course it would be– but Esteban likes sharing things with her, and knowing things Rain knows, and so he likes to read it regardless. Still, the young man falters as he arrives at the end of the page, the tapping starting anew. She turns the paper, but her lover is away again, thinking.

“Why d'ya think…” he begins, eyes like the sky staring at their hands holding the book together, his over hers and the vast difference between their palms mirrors their vast differences in personality. And still, they match– in a very mismatched way. “That it’s so amazing to be something other than human?” her lover asks, thinking aloud.

She remains silent for a moment, thinking lightly at first, but soon waddling through her own shortcomings– the reasons why she too would wish… that. Her lover is too confident into his own skin, his own body– he would never understand the desire to simply be something else.

“W-Well,” she begins, “because… maybe, just to be something else is to be better,” she attempts, her own grey eyes no longer onto the book anymore, as the conversation thoroughly distracts her. “Maybe because being human is… difficult… and being something else feels like freedom.” She… wishes she had that freedom. But then, she has him, and being human is not so bad anymore.

“But– see,” he begins– and she can almost see the glimmer of amusement and the grin he would send her way, if only she were facing him. “That’s what’s amazing about humans! Take a dragon fer ‘xample–” he’s skipping syllables by now, his excitement too big to contain, and the way he speaks in those times is absolutely adorable– like a child.

“If yer a dragon, yer big, ya breathe fire, and ya fly– how’s that for narcissism?” he chuckles again, before going on. “But then– why would ya invent planes? Or why would ya struggle to keep warm? Dontcha think that bein’ human is bein’ weak, and amazin’ because of how weak people are?” Silver linings. Esteban adores silver linings.

“Because, to be strong, you gotta work even harder. You gotta push further. You’ve gotta be better than those who'r’ already better than you. And that means so much strength.” His voice fades for a moment, quieting as he thinks of his own words.

His girlfriend can only smile at him, twisting into his warmth to crawl closer to him, no matter how impossible the task seems. Her fingers drag lightly against his naked chest for a moment, before curling against his lower back, content in basking in his presence.

“I like that,” she whispers lightly, curling into him as she ponders his words. “But… Esteban?” Her thumb ruffles the pages of her book lightly, thoughtful. “I-if you could… What would you be?” He barely takes a second to answer.

“A dragon!”

She shifts in her surprise, rising to look upon her lover’s sweet face, his eyes sparkling in mischief as he grins widely, beaming up at her as she lets out a giggle. “But you just said that they were narcissistic!” she laughs out, his happiness and utter nonsense contagious– he makes her smile again.

“But Raaaaain~!” he almost whines out, though his grin never leaves his face, childish playfulness peeking through his words. “I am a narcissistic bastard!” She goes to speak. He interrupts her.

His lips are sweet.

That’s all that matters.


End file.
